International Co-operative Development

Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada is a national voice for co-operative development in Canada. CMC's team is only involved in domestic co-op development.

The Canadian co-operative movement meanwhile, is fully involved in co-operative development worldwide. Canadian co-operatives provide expertise, support and financing to co-operative projects in developing countries, mainly in South America, Africa and Asia. The Government of Canada also provides financial support to such projects in collaboration with several key co-operative development agencies started by the movement, including:

The Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF) is a not-for-profit co-operative with a mission to establish and grow co-operatives internationally that build a better world. CDF proudly delivers programs which help poor communities fight poverty and create more secure lives through community-owned co-ops. To achieve this mission, CDF works closely with Canadian co-operatives and credit unions to channel their knowledge and experience to partner organizations and co-operatives in Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.

SOCODEVI (Société de coopération pour le développement international) is a network of cooperatives and mutuals that share technical expertise and know-how with partners in developing countries to create co-operative solutions that build and protect local wealth. Since 1985, the network has delivered more than 700 projects around the world and spent the equivalent of 90 years of volunteer work in development activities. It is the sharing of the co-operative and mutualist movement between the north and the south that enables the exchange of expertise and know-how.

In 1970, Desjardins Group created Développement international Desjardins (DID) in order to share the success of the Quebec co-operative model with developing countries. DID was responding to a need in those countries which, since the 1960s, have been knocking on the door and asking Desjardins how the co-operative model could contribute to the development of their communities. Over the years DID has established close ties with communities around the world, in part because they are able to call upon a wealth of expertise available within the Desjardins Group.

Rooftops Canada is the international development program of co-operative and social housing organizations in Canada. Rooftops Canada works with partner organizations to improve housing conditions, build sustainable communities and develop a shared vision of equitable global development. Rooftops Canada's focus is on disadvantaged communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.